Where Do You Run?

2 Kings 4:22

“Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return.”

We tend to run to what we believe will solve the problem when trouble arises.  If you get sick you run to the doctor. If your car has issue you run to the mechanic.  Our tendency is to run to get a problem fixed by the most effective means at our disposal.  In other words, you would never run to mechanic because your kid has a high fever or you would not call an election to fix a plumbing problem. 

This Shunammite women had been taking care of Elisha at her home and even made a little room for him to stay in.  Elisha prayed that she might have a son, because she could not and her husband was old. She miraculously bore a son just as Elisha had prophesied.  Well, as time goes by, the boy is grown up and he becomes ill and dies.  This mother, in verse 22, makes a mad dash to get Elisha to come and pray for her son.  Elisha returns, prays for the boy, and he is risen from the dead and everyone rejoiced. 

To bring this into the 21st century, I might ask the same question.  What do you run to?  When issues arise in your life what to you turn to?  Do you run to your friends, or go the internet, or even rely on other means like signs of the zodiac or what your horoscope said today? 

This Shunammite women ran to the man of God as soon as possible because she knew that the Lord was with him. She had seen the Lord work through him so she ran, not walked, ran to go get him. 

How upsetting would it be if you run to what you thought would fix your issue only to find out that nothing has changed.  The Lord is waiting for you to run to Him for refuge in all of your issues. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, and He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].

Today, run to the Lord who promises to remove those obstacles that block your way. The question is, are you still running to wrong thing or will you start running to the Lord who is the author and perfector of your faith (Hebrews 12:2)? Make Psalm 146 your prayer.

Psalm 146

“Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them– the LORD, who remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.”

Prayer: Father, we are all guilty of running to the closest thing we can see to get our problems fixed. Help us to keep our eyes on you and help us to run only to you for guidance. Strengthen our faith so we can tell our mountain full of misguided deeds and words, to move and it will be cast into the sea. (Mark 11:23) In Jesus name we pray, amen.